Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee says Green Party Finance Spokesman Russel Norman’s plan to raid the National Land Transport Fund to pay for his “Rent to Buy Housing Scheme”, shows a complete lack of knowledge of public finance in New Zealand.

“Mr Norman seems unaware that roading funding is collected from road users through fuel taxes, user charges and fees. That money is then dedicated to the National Land Transport Fund, to pay for road policing, public transport and road maintenance.

“This dedicated funding or ‘full hypothecation’ was introduced in 2008.

“The Greens can’t have it both ways – paying for houses from road taxes would cause serious problems for the funding of core transport services such as public transport.

“The lack of investment in new roading projects would create long term bottlenecks in our transport system and create congestion, leading to greater fossil fuel use.

“”First it was crank up the photocopiers to print money, now its let’s rob Peter to pay Paul.” said Mr Brownlee.

The Greens are making huge gains with their series of statements on housing – in fact, everything they present to the public is being greated with admiration by all save you apologists for the do-nothing National Government. Ele, your coverage and criticism of Green progress will intensify as they make more and more ground, I predict, but it won’t stop their rise in popularity. Please enjoy Mr Trotters most recent post – it’s all about the fear you are feeling :-)

And the theme music for the Greens election campaign has just been sorted as well. “Money for Nothing” – Dire Straits – which is of course where we will be.

No one should be surprised of the ostensible “popularity” of the Green’s policy of gifting houses to their constituency. The policy won’t last the scrutiny of the campaign – which seems to have started in 2013 for a 2014 election.

We have more to fear from the rich than those undeserving poor people. Tax evasion cut potential Government revenue by $6 billion while benefit fraud cost the country 39 million. We now have working poor whose wages are subsidised by the government to support the 20% increase in the incomes of the wealthy.

Roger’s right – the Greens have hit the 2013 ground running and are attracting all the attention. National and her flunkies will be reduced to squawking about printing presses and lolly-scrambles til election-time but it will do no good – the people of New Zealand have peeked behind the blue curtain and found there’s nothing there. Bring on he referendum and let New Zealanders truly mandate the next Government. It’s going to sting, Roger, but it’s for the best.

Ele, I don’t think the scheme was primarily designed to support recent graduates into homes. Home ownership is increasingly becoming unaffordable to most and the new houses being built are for those on upper incomes (the average house being built in NZ make them the third largest in the world). What would be your suggestion to support those who will never earn much more than $35,000 into a home? Michael Savage instigated the huge state house construction scheme and it seemed to help boost the economy rather than stifle it. In fact almost half of all current state houses were those built 70 years ago.

The home insulation scheme brought about through the Green’s memorandum of understanding with the National Government has been the most successful scheme over the last four years. It has insulated around 200,000 homes and boosted employment.

“We have more to fear from the rich than those undeserving poor people. Tax evasion cut potential Government revenue by $6 billion while benefit fraud cost the country 39 million.”

And you own a home plus a half share in another plus two superannuation schemes and a parliamentary salary plus allowances worth maybe 6 times the median wage.

And how about that early Greens scheme which took taxpayer funded accommodation allowances, purchased houses for a further get rich scheme and dodged the tax man by deducting expenses from the profits?

Face it, *you* are the rich, *you* are the elite, the tax evader, and doing it on the backs of the tax payers.

Of course, you are none of these things, indeed you appear to be a decent sort of chap (if somewhat befuddled), and neither are those other people crooks because they legitimately *avoided” tax. Instead, like the Greens and Labour MPs they formed trusts, bought and sold property and used the tax system to avoid tax on the profits from their investments.. albeit they didn’t get their income from the tax payer but from their own hard work.

That’s the trouble when tax payers believe they are being overly taxed to support the lifestyle of people like you and your friends.. they start to look for the loopholes.. and find your friends in Parliament have beaten them to it.

The Internet has a long memory, my friend, and its a magnificent tool for exposing the hypocrisy of our elites on the tax payers dime who try to demonise who earned their money the hard way.

Oh, JC, JC, JC! That pointy finger, those beads of indignant sweat, that shrill accusatory whine!
Yes, you are correct, the Internet has a long memory, my friend, and its a magnificent tool for exposing…well, all sorts of idiocy :-)